No Triple Crown for I’ll Have Another

POSTED Jun 8, 2012
By
Derek Simon

This isn’t
the way it was supposed to end. Instead of winning — or losing — the Triple
Crown on the racetrack, I’ll Have Another was defeated in the barn, when it was
discovered that he had a tendon injury.

“I'll Have
Another is officially out of the Belmont,” O'Neill said. “We scanned his left
front leg and he's got the start of tendinitis going on in his front leg. He's
not 100 percent and we ain't taking any chances.”

Hinting that
the horse may never race again, O’Neill added: “It's not tragic, but it's a
huge disappointment. I'm just so bummed for the horse, obviously, and then for
the whole team.”

Racing fans seem
to share O’Neill’s disappointment. In fact, based on what I read on various
social media sites, the Mayans were wrong only about the date — officially, the
world ended on June 8, 2012.

It is to
those I say… well, perhaps I can best express my sentiments with a song:

Feel better?

Yeah, my kids don’t find it amusing when I perform that number for them either,
especially since my singing voice sounds like a prepubescentbullfrog with a drinking problem. But,
let’s be honest: If I’ll Have Another had
run — and run badly — many of the same folks weeping and gnashing their teeth
now would still be doing so… it’s just a matter of timing.

Pat Forde of
Yahoo Sports notes that “I’ll Have Another is only the third Triple Crown
aspirant to miss the Belmont Stakes due to injury. The others are Bold Venture
in 1936 and Burgoo King in 1932.”

But that doesn’t give the whole picture.
Remember Majestic Prince?

Like I’ll Have Another, Majestic Prince won both the Kentucky Derby and
Preakness (in 1969) and, also like I’ll Have Another, the son of Raise a Native was initially ruled
out of the Belmont due to an undisclosed injury (believed to be a tendon
problem).I say “initially” because public pressure, including a featured article in Sports Illustrated, prompted Majestic
Prince’s owner Francis Murray Patrick McMahon to override his trainer Johnny
Longden’s (yes, that Johnny Longden —
the former champion rider) decision not to ship to New York.

Majestic
Prince finished second behind Arts and Letters in the Belmont Stakes. And
despite besting that rival in two out of three head-to-head meetings in the Triple
Crown series, Arts and Letters wound up being named the nation’s top three-year-old,
as well as Horse of the Year in 1969.

Meanwhile, Majestic
Prince never raced again.

The fact is none
of us knows whether or not I’ll Have
Another would have won the Belmont. Personally, I think a lot of longtime
racing observers like myself — in our heart of hearts — doubted that Doug O’Neill’s
sophomore star was in the same class as previous Triple Crown champions like
Secretariat or Citation or Affirmed (personally, I wasn’t even sure I’ll Have
Another was as good as some of the near-misses, like Spectacular Bid). But, now,
fans of the horse can forever assert that he was... and that may be the silver
lining in this dark cloud.

Look, I’ll
be frank: I thought very highly of Barbaro after his scintillating win in the
2006 Kentucky Derby, but I’m not so sure that even had he not been injured he
would have beaten Bernardini in the Preakness Stakes. Bernardini was fast — his
speed figures dwarfed those of Barbaro; yet, to those who loved him, Barbaro
will forever be the greatest horse of his generation.

(Click on image to enlarge)

(Click on image to enlarge)

To those who
love him, I’ll Have Another will forever be the greatest of his generation as
well. And that’s all that really matters.

No comments:

Post a Comment

Welcome to the TwinSpires Blog. Our contributors will be continually updating posts to offer commentary, insight, advice and expert opinions on horse racing and wagering. The goal is to help you win more and become a better all around horse player.

Contributors

TwinSpires' horse racing author, handicapper, and podcast host, Derek Simon of Denver, Colo. offers his insightful, humorous and sometimes controversial take on the horse racing industry. He even publishes the ROI on the picks he gives out.

The Director of Marketing for Bloodstock Research Information Services (BRIS) and a lifelong Thoroughbred racing enthusiast and astute handicapper, Ed joined Churchill Downs Inc. following nine years as a writer and editor with Thoroughbred Times.

A writer and editor who has been following horse racing for fifteen years. Peter has written books for the Daily Racing Form Press; Crown; and Simon and Schuster; among other publishers, and regular features in The Horseplayer Magazine.